Blitzkrieg Bop

Infobox Single
Name = Blitzkrieg Bop


Artist = Ramones
from Album = Ramones
A-side =
B-side =
Released = April 1976
Format =
Recorded = February 1976
Genre = Punk
Length = 2:12
Label = Sire
Writer = Dee Dee Ramone, Tommy Ramone
Producer = Craig Leon
Certification =
Last single = -
This single = "Blitzkrieg Bop"
(1976)
Next single = "53rd & 3rd"
(1976)
Misc = Extra musicsample
filename=Ramones-Blitzkrieg Bop.ogg
title="Blitzkrieg Bop"
Type = single

"Blitzkrieg Bop" is a song by punk rock band the Ramones. The band's inaugural single, it was released in April 1976 in the United States. It was recorded for and appeared as the lead track on the band's first album, "Ramones", also released that month.

The song, whose composition was credited to the band as a whole, was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone (lyrics) and drummer Tommy Ramone (music). [Bessman (1993), p. 48.] Based on a simple three-chord pattern, "Blitzkrieg Bop" opens with the chant "Hey! Ho! Let's go!". The song is popular at sporting events, especially baseball games, where "Hey! Ho! Let's go!" is sometimes shouted as a rallying cry.

"Blitzkrieg Bop" is number 92 on the "Rolling Stone" list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, "Q" magazine placed it at number 31 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Origin and meaning

"Blitzkrieg Bop" was named after the German World War II tactic "blitzkrieg", which literally means "lightning war". The song was mainly written by drummer Tommy Ramone, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone came up with the title (the song was originally called "Animal Hop"). Dee Dee also changed one line: The original third verse had the line "shouting in the back now", but Dee Dee changed it to "shoot 'em in the back now". The precise meaning and subject matter of the song are, unlike many of The Ramones' other early compositions, somewhat vague and obscure. Some fans contend, based on lines such as "Shoot 'em in the back now", that the song tells of gang violence, which would seem to be more in line with the bands' other songs of that era. But it is more likely that the song is simply about having a good time at a concert, perhaps an ode to early punk fans. If the third-verse line had not been changed the song meaning would be the latter.

Composition

"Blitzkrieg Bop" keeps a 4/4 timing drum beat, with a 8th note down stroke guitar, and the bass has a three chord riff A D E, until the breakdown of the song occurs with the chant, "Hey! Ho! Let's go!".

Dedications

*A monthly club night at the Arches in Glasgow is named after the song.
*Pennywise has done a cover version dedicated to Joey Ramone. At Warped Tour July 26, 2008 @ Nassau Colosseum, C. J. Ramone came on stage during Pennywise's set and played Blitzkrieg Bop with the band.
* This song is arguably one of the most popular punk rock songs, and is considered by many to be the "punk rock anthem."

Notable covers

*The song has been covered by various artists including studio versions by Rob Zombie, The Beautiful South, Screeching Weasel, The Hanson Brothers, The Offspring, and Die Toten Hosen
*Pop punk band Green Day covered this song along with Teenage Lobotomy at the 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the remaining member of The Ramones, and regularly play the song live, sometimes getting kids out of the audience to play the song on their instruments, though more usually the song "Knowledge". Furthermore, their track "St. Jimmy" from the album "American Idiot" uses the same chord progression, but in a different tempo. In addition, their song "Welcome to Paradise" features this chord progression backwards in the same tempo, but with the guitar half a step down.
*Skid Row covered the song on their 1990 video "Oh Say Can You Scream".
*The Mescaleros put the song into their live set during 2001 as Joe Strummer wanted to pay tribute to Joey Ramone who died in that year.
*The punk band The Casualties covers the song when on tour.
*Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks covered the song in almost every gig in the middle 80's.
*Christian punk band The Huntingtons covered this song on their album Rocket to Ramonia.
* Many bands, whether punk or not, are known to perform this song live in concert.

Use in media

This song has been featured in numerous venues across the spectrum of popular culture, including:
*As playable tracks in music video games "Rock Band", "Rock Revolution" and "Battle of the Bands".
*As background music in the video games "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3" and ""
*In television ads for the "Cingular"/AT&T Go-Phone .
*In the films "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), "" (2001) and "Accepted" (2006).
*In The TV Series "" ("Space: 2063" Outside the US) [1995] .
*In "The King of Queens" episode "Icky Shuffle".
*In "The Bronx is Burning" episode "Team in Turmoil" and several episodes after that.
*In the 100th Episode of Family Guy.
*In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XVIII.
*In the "Entourage" episode "What About Bob?".
*In Stephen king's novel Pet Sematary the phrase "hey, ho, let's go" is quoted several times.
*In "90210 (TV Series)" episode Hollywood Forever

Footnotes

Bibliography